There comes a time when someone really understands the conditions of our nation and the world around us and is able to put them into words. Some are uncomfortable with the bluntness of Sarah Palin, but the pablum coming out of their attempts at discourse astounds everyone with the vapid nature of their thought processes.

There is much we can learn from this fine lady who was the only reason I drove a car with a McCain Palin bumper sticker for a time. Our challenges are great and we need bold thinking and action to prevent the total meltdown of our nation. Being merely “concerned” will not get the job done. Neither will making nice and attempting to negotiate with those who want to take us in the opposite direction to a godless socialist end.

[Editors note: This article was originally published in June of 2010. It is even more true today.]

Barack Hussein Obama has done his best to turn our country into a place only a European socialist or communist could love. Even worse than his intended destruction of the best health care system in the world, or his presiding over the annihilation of marine life in the Gulf of Mexico or his intention to make our energy costs skyrocket – in spite of the other economic pressures caused by his mishandling of the economy, is one crime that exceeds even these debacles of leadership. He has guided this country in a direction that appears to be designed to stick the governmental thumb into the eye of everyday Americans… the kind who have made this country work for more than two centuries.

And how have many reacted to this Chicago thug giving jobs to cheap labor coming into this country illegally or taking their money and giving to all sorts of people and purposes unacceptable to the American value system? He has turned the normally happy and charitable citizens into angry subjects, distrustful of the government that is supposed to be looking after their welfare. The people understand that they are nothing but resources for his grand scheme of social reorganization.

The incensed population no longer has the happiness and optimism that once typified America. Some leaders have the ability to take people in difficult situations and buck them up to restore their confidence and ability to beat their circumstances and lack of confidence. This “leader” has taken another tack. He is telling us that we should not have had our prosperity at the expense of the rest of the world and the under performers in our own society. To the Obamessiah, economic justice is sufficient cause to bring this hardship on the American people… to the point where he is taking no steps to correct the situation.

We conservatives and libertarians fight a never ending battle against the expansion of government giveaways and intrusions into our personal lives. This is something that needs to be done with greater effort and passion than ever. However, there is much more to the fight than political wars.

Mitt Romney was right, there is a sizable segment of our population that has become accustomed to living off the producers in our country. His percentage was off some as there are some people legitimately getting government checks. Military retirees who have earned their checks. Social security recipients who have paid in many years to receive their checks. Then there are those who really cannot support themselves. A compassionate society needs to give them a helping hand.

As much as the progressive left would like to deny there existence, there is a much larger segment than most people would like to recognize who are not interested in the national debt, in our country’s image overseas, or even the job creation Romney and Ryan are touting. There are those, who for several generations have made a science of knowing just how much the can earn before it starts cutting into their refundable tax credits, or welfare checks. They know every trick known to man to work the system to milk the taxpayers hard earned dollars from the bureaucrats whose jobs depend on giving away as much as possible.

[Editors note: Here are some comments on first time election day activities from my son. For those who have never spent part of election day passing out literature or knocking on doors for your favorite candidate, you will see that it is not so frightening... in fact it can be fun. Whoever you support... get out and support your man or woman.]

Last week I got a call asking if I would help Ron Paul by working a poll on election day handing out little cards promoting the delegates who support Dr. Paul at the convention. It was not something I was planning on doing and that sort of political activity is not something toward which I am naturally inclined. There were things I really should get done at work that day and coming home and having dinner with my wife is something I really do look forward to. Well, they talked me into it by saying that even if I could get there by 6pm (the eleventh hour) and work until closing that would be a help.

On Tuesday I got there about six and first went inside and took care of my own business in one of the two little booths. There was no line and after showing ID and signing my name I was directed right in. I am in Doylestown (PA) District 1-1, the belly of the county beast, so to speak, and the polling is done in the Bar Association building, which is about as comfortable and amenable venue as one is likely to find. In almost every room it seemed that there was someone thanking me for coming out to vote.

“Evangelical Christianity lost one of its most eloquent and influential voices today with the death of Charles W. ‘Chuck’ Colson.” So reads the opening paragraph on the Prison Fellowship web site as much of the formerly main stream media only reminds us that he was a part of the Watergate conspiracy that brought down President Nixon. As with many of us who have been around a while, there are many aspects to our lives and both views of the man are true.

The last is not the complete story and the other came about because of it. He was a young and hungry hatchet man for the Nixon administration. Perhaps a stereotypical lawyer that no one really liked, but he got the job done. When a political executioner was needed, he performed the task with relish. His dedication to the success of the Nixon administration is what brought him to power and gave purpose to his life. Ultimately it led to his downfall – disbarment and imprisonment.

From frequent meetings in the oval office and sharply dressed adviser to the President, he fell prison garb and just one more number in the system. In his book, The Good Life, this once powerful and feared man wrote, “the most shattering thing about prison was the thought that I would never do anything significant with my life.” Even the harsh humiliation of prison did not quench his desire to accomplish something great. Like Victor Frankl who wrote about survival in a Nazi concentration camp, Colson looked for meaning… and he found it.

Now is the time so many people feel the necessity to make New Years resolutions. Somewhere between one and six weeks into the new year most of these resolutions are broken. Why is this? I would like to propose a few thoughts for your consideration.

Let’s start with the timing. If some sort of change were really necessary and it was desired strongly enough, why wait until the beginning of a new year. If, for some reason, your doctor tells you to cut boiled artichokes from your diet, those who value our health would cut them out immediately, not wait until the end of the year.

Next we can look at the content of most resolutions. Most tend to revolve around ourselves and things we couldn’t bring ourselves to do any other way. For several years I was a member at a local fitness facility… a gym. Come January, the place would be packed, but by mid February, it would be back to normal. So many wanted to be in better shape, and they took the first step in signing up for a gym membership. Yet, when they found out about the work involved in getting into shape, enthusiasm and commitment faded rapidly.

This video of Professor Abdullah Al-Nafisi reveals several problems we are currently facing. He is talking about the ease of using biological weapons against any populated area. It gives us a chilling reminder of how ineffective our defenses are along the border where such weapons would likely be smuggled in. The diminutive size of the weapon means in would fit in an automobile glove box or a business man’s briefcase.

It also means that it would not be difficult to smuggle into the United States in the backpack of a Mexican or Iranian slipping across the Rio Grande or in a fishing boat across one of the Great Lakes. Unfortunately the regime in Washington is more interested in keeping tabs on tea party members than keeping out potential Democrat voters.

Even with the threat of mass devastation, our government is more concerned with the devastation of their re-election prospects. Then we have the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that would rather pursue the supposed health hazards of civilian possession of guns than the prevention of death on such a massive scale.

One of Barack Hussein Obama’s most frequent complaints is that those pesky Republicans are placing party and politics over the good of the country. In some ways he is correct. One would have to ask what he is complaining about. He got his two trillion dollar blank check and he won’t have to bamboozle congress for more until after his defeat next year. Yet, somehow it is the Republicans fault that the economy is falling apart.

Yes, many Republicans did place party discipline and allegiance over actions they knew to be good for the country when they fell for the fearful John Boehner’s attempt to look statesmanlike by “compromising” with the administration and Harry Reid and giving the President exactly what he wanted – more money to spend and no further chance to stop it until after the people render their opinion of his presidency. I find the term “compromise” a little odd when one side gives up just about everything they fought for and the other side gets exactly what they wanted. Yet the president needs someone to blame his failure on, since it could not possibly be his policies.

This is what happens when our elected representatives place party loyalty and submission to those in leadership positions over following the wishes of those who put them in office – their bosses. How will they fair when the citizens render an opinion on their performance? Considering the fact that generic incumbents have a re-election rate percentage in the nineties and that they will usually be running against socialistic Democrats whose moral turpitude makes them completely unsuited for any kind of responsible position. Our only hope of getting through to them is through primary challenges. Read more of this article »

Just a few days ago, congress had the opportunity to remove one of the thumbprints of tyranny from the lives of the American people. A vote came up in the House of Representatives that gave the body the ability to actually represent the wishes of the citizens. The vote came and went and the people, who are quickly becoming subjects, were still stuck with the mercury filled light bulbs, loved by the followers of Algore and Company. We still are being forced to have these dangerous, so our government keepers tell us, products in our homes. Hazmats in the house it would seem.

How did this happen in a branch of government supposedly run by Republicans who are supposedly looking out for the well being of the American people? It happened because ten Republicans chose to side with the progressive Democrats to send our last hope crashing down in flames. Two of these people, are from my home state of Virginia… I am so ashamed of what has come of those we were proud to see elected.

This shows that we cannot depend on party labels to insure sanity in the legislature. Although, if someone admits to being a Democrat, we can be pretty sure they will not be on the side of freedom… unless it is freedom to kill your offspring. It does show the wisdom of the saying, “Don’t listen to what people say, watch what they do.” Since politicians are a loquacious bunch, they throw a lot of words at us as a smokescreen and would like us to believe and act on those words. Read more of this article »

The Internet is filled with good and bad. Personally, I believe the Internet (along with a precious few independent newspapers and radio talk shows) is analogous to colonial America’s “Committees of Correspondence”: it is the last resource of uncontrolled, unfiltered information left. I dare say if it wasn’t for the Internet (and the massive private ownership of firearms), it is doubtful that there would be anything left of the once great American republic. There isn’t much left as it is.

To help readers locate a variety of quality web sites, we posted a list of sites that I personally have found helpful. I invite readers to peruse these fine web sites: Click here.

Scrolling down the list, one will find James Wesley, Rawles’ web site: “Survival Blog.” This is one of the very best online resources for preparedness that I know of. Furthermore, I recommend that everyone read Rawles’ fantastic book, “Patriots: A Novel Of Survival In The Coming Collapse.” This book should be regarded as must reading for every American who cares about the future of his country and his family. Read more of this article »

I was thrilled to see J.B. Williams report in NewsWithViews.com that the State of Montana has a broad-based State nullification bill currently proposed in its legislature. Derek Skees (R-Whitefish) is the State legislator who has introduced this much-needed legislation.

See the story at: http://www.newswithviews.com:80/JBWilliams/williams130.htm

The fact is, Skees’ State Nullification bill is only one of several outstanding freedom-first bills that is currently before the Montana legislature. I urge readers to go to PolyMontana.com to look at the many other fine pieces of pro-freedom legislation pending in the Montana State legislature: http://polymontana.com/legislators/freedom-bills/

Unfortunately, one of those very fine bills has already been defeated: the “Sheriffs First” bill sponsored by Senator Greg Hinkle (R-Thompson Falls). This bill is long overdue and absolutely necessary to prevent federal usurpation of State and local law enforcement. That the Montana legislature failed to pass this bill indicates just how necessary it is to elect State legislators who truly understand constitutional government. I urge readers to read the following defense of the Sheriffs First law, written by my son, Constitutional Attorney Tim Baldwin: http://tinyurl.com/4aclefs Read more of this article »

It’s New Years Eve and we are about to enter 2011. The past year has been one of tremendous success for the people of the United States… and tremendous failure for our representatives who are charged with the job of guarding our republic and protecting our freedom. Sure some progress has been made in our nations’ capitol, but it has only been to slow down the our plunge into tyranny. The victories we have seen show us what we, the people, are capable of when we get together and stand against our would be masters.

We can sit back in satisfaction for having driven many of the worst offenders from positions of power. But… some remain and they are still determined to impose their will on the American people. If we do sit back and rest on our victories, they will evaporate like our jobs and our national prosperity. Remember the high so many of us felt on election night as we saw one after another of these big government types go down to defeat. That, and the work the legitimate foes of small government heading to Washington, is the payoff for our efforts. Not all of our favorites were elected… but supporting them was still worth our effort.

We have felt, as they say, the “thrill of victory and the agony of defeat”. This shows we are alive and in the arena. Even though we need to stand against some of his progressive policies, we need to consider the words of Theodore Roosevelt when he said: Read more of this article »

Something amazing happened recently. Senate Republicans held together and gathered the support of of a few Democrats to shoot down the President’s plan to stop “tax cuts for the evil rich”… thus pursuing his class warfare agenda. Never mind the fact that keeping tax rates the same is not a cut. We are told the government has other uses for the money – as if it was theirs in the first place.

It’s not surprising, with Senators like Jim DeMint and his cohorts, but the wicked witches of Maine and even Lindsey Graham and John McCain held together with the conservative core of the party. We can hope the the recent election results have either put the fear of the voters in the non-believers or actually made them believers.

Our poor President was not the only one infuriated by this act of insubordination, so was his base… he was going to extend the tax cuts for some when he promised cuts for no one. However, he has something he thinks is a bargaining chip. Something he thinks he can get out of the Republicans if he must compromise with them. He knows his leftist base will accept not it if it appears he has caved to the opposition demands. He has told them that he will veto any bill that has tax cuts for every American – unless it contains an extension of the unemployment benefits. Read more of this article »

Ever since God called Abram out of Ur, God’s people have always possessed a “Pilgrim Spirit.” Think of it: Abram was called by God to leave the only country and home he had ever known, his family and friends, and his culture and way of life. To make matters worse, he did not even know where he was going. And, of course, Abraham is known as the “Father of the Faithful.” Virtually all of God’s children since Abraham have possessed an innate pilgrim spirit.

Abraham’s descendants, both physical (Old Testament Jews) and spiritual (New Testament Christians), have all, like their spiritual father, followed the call of God to discover or defend the freedom to walk, work, and worship in the spirit of liberty and truth. In fact, the spirit of liberty and the pilgrim spirit go hand in hand. Think of it: virtually every great freedom movement has been, in large part, born, bred, and brought about by an intrinsic and indefatigable pilgrim spirit.

The pilgrim spirit brought Moses and the children of Israel out of Egypt. The pilgrim spirit brought Joshua and God’s children into the Promised Land. The pilgrim spirit moved upon Samson and Gideon to free the Hebrews from their oppressors. The pilgrim spirit empowered young David to face off against the Philistines’ mightiest warrior. The pilgrim spirit motivated the early church to plant themselves throughout Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the Middle East. The pilgrim spirit took God’s people to Europe. That same spirit moved them from country to country, from one end of the European continent to the other. And that same spirit brought America’s Pilgrim forebears to the shores of Virginia and Massachusetts. Read more of this article »

Only the most willingly ignorant people (most of whom are educated beyond their intelligence, as my dad used to say) would argue with the fact that the generation who founded this great country believed that God had providentially established and protected what became known as the United States of America. The public sentiments in this regard are irrefutable.

In his first inaugural address, President George Washington said, “No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States.”

In Washington’s Thanksgiving Day Address (1789), he said, “That we then may all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war.” Read more of this article »

The financial regulatory bill recently passed by the house provides for an “Office of Minority and Women Inclusion” for each of the agencies created by the legislation. That is not one office… but one for each agency. Even setting aside for a moment the concern that such a scheme is not a valid approach, can anyone say, “duplicated service and duplicated expense”. It does though, help to maximize the number of new federal employees, probably union employees. However, taking Ronald Reagan’s admonition that, “The closest thing to eternal life on earth is a government program”, this policy is even more disastrous to an over-leveraged economy and the tax paying citizens.

We can only hope that we see enough change in Washington to defund such programs in the absence of the possibility of an actual repeal. At a time when our country is more divided than at any time in the recent past, we do not need one more, or multiplied numbers of agencies designed to assign quotas and pit one group of citizens (usually) against another.

The United States has long been known as a “melting pot” where newcomers to our country were integrated into a more or less common culture with common language and aspirations. Immigrants came here, and believed they were coming to the promised land. Most saw an opportunity filled land and they wanted to get their piece of the pie. Our country prospered as more and more legal immigrants joined the pursuit of the American Dream. This is not surprising as our creator knew the value of unity when he said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.” (Genesis 11:1-9 NIV) Read more of this article »

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” So said Founding Father and America’s second President John Adams. And he was absolutely right. And that is what is absolutely wrong with our country today: America is in a complete moral, societal, and cultural meltdown.

Founding Father and America’s first US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay correctly summarized the reason our new nation (and the fight for its liberty and independence) was successful. He wrote in Federalist 2, “With equal pleasure I have as often taken notice that Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people–a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs, and who, by their joint counsels, arms, and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody war, have nobly established general liberty and independence.”

In other words, a united constitutional republic can only exist within the framework of certain rather narrow and finite conditions. Remove those conditions and the framework for liberty and limited government falls apart. And the above statements by Adams and Jay succinctly summarize the conditions necessary for freedom’s framework. Read more of this article »

A surprising revelation sprang into my quiet time this morning. It’s connected to a prophetic word God gave me yesterday called “A DECREE FROM THE LORD.” It’s posted on my blog http://Nancy777.com.

I was studying a teaching by Kim Clement on the subject of REVELATION. He said, “A revelation is a sudden compelling force or action that induces motion.” He went on to explain that it drives you forward and creates spiritual motion and with this motion creates expression by inactivating the “negative control system” and activating the “positive control system.”

I learned we have two control systems in us: negative and positive. The negative one is continually fed by the news media, bad reports, and bad things etc. These negative things stifle us and bring fear. What God does is suddenly activate the positive control system in you by inactivating the negative control system.

Kim said, “REVELATION CANNOT COME INTO EXISTENCE WITHOUT YOU! GOD NEEDS SOMEBODY TO BRING REVELATION INTO EXISTENCE IN TIME AND SPACE.” Read more of this article »

In the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies.”

I would argue that we, like our patriot forebears, have also endured “patient sufferance.” For at least a half-century, we have patiently endured the erosion and abridgment of our freedoms and liberties. We have watched the federal government become an overbearing and meddlesome Nanny State that pokes its nose and sticks its fingers in virtually everything we do. We cannot drive a car, buy a gun, or even flush a toilet without Big Brother’s permission. We are taxed, regulated, and snooped-on from the time we are born to the day we die. And then after we are dead, we are taxed again.

In the same way that Jefferson and Company patiently suffered up until that shot was fired that was heard around the world, we who love freedom today are likewise patiently suffering “a long train of abuses and usurpations.” In fact, I would even dare say that these States United have become a boiling caldron of justifiable frustration and even anger.

Accordingly, it is incumbent upon us to very seriously and thoughtfully examine those principles that we absolutely will never cede or surrender. We have already surrendered much of the freedom that was bequeathed to us by our forefathers. We are now to the point that we must define those principles that form our “line in the sand” and that we will not surrender under any circumstance. Either that, or we must admit to ourselves that there is nothing–no principle, no freedom, no matter how sacred–that we will not surrender to Big Government. Read more of this article »

Encumbering world’s numbering
Soldiers in rows and rows and rows,
In infinite rows of
Infinite possibilites of oppression,
While innocent bystanders
Fumble through words and motions
Playing the pathetic part of victim.
Shadowy shadows dancing in the night with delight
At the sight of such tomfoolery.
Lost in a sea of misunderstandings and misunderstood,
Wanting to be recognized
Amidst the lies that stretch into an eternal dead sea.
This is not your home.
Awake to the sense of self that calls forth from you
The power of courage and life.
Ignite the flame that extinguishes fear,
The perfect and complete love,
The love that resides inside you.
It’s been calling you since childhood,
Calling you to a greater good.
Vanquish the mocking shadows with the light;
The brilliant, beautiful light.
The light that is created through hope.
The hope that is created through love.
The love that is created through you.

I’ve noticed a particular theme in the statements and signs of those so-called “right-wing extremists” (also known as, domestic terrorists, wingnuts, astroturf, among other pejoratives). Posters that declare “Hands Off My Healthcare,” “Socialism isn’t Cool,” and “No New Taxes” speak of the American’s understanding of freedom and individual rights. Our capitalist system is founded upon the individual’s right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” which translates a variety of ways within the American community – economic wealth and personal freedoms among them.

The website, Capitalism.org, describes the role of government in a capitalist society quite simply… and, please note, narrowly.

“A proper government’s only responsibility is to protect the rights of the individual, by banning the initiation of force, thus making all relations between men peaceful, i.e., free from the threat of violence and fraud.”

As James Madison said, “if men were angels, we would need no government.” So, how does a government protect these individual rights and promote a peaceful existence among men and women? It passes laws. It uses police and the courts to carry out this duty. An army is required to prevent us from foreign invasion. There ends the role of government in a capitalist society.

“In a free society each and every man lives under a rule of law, as opposed to a whim-ridden rule of men. It has only one purpose: to protect the rights of the smallest minority that has ever existed – the individual……..(Emphasis added.) Read more of this article »

[Note: My son, Tim, writes today's column. He is an attorney who received his Juris Doctor degree from Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. He is a former felony prosecutor for the Florida State Attorney's Office and now owns his own private law practice. He is author of a soon-to-be-published new book, entitled FREEDOM FOR A CHANGE. Tim is also one of America's foremost defenders of State sovereignty.]

The arguments against the power of the states to arrest federal tyranny are as predictable as the sun coming up in the morning, and they are as philosophical in nature as the Declaration of Independence. One of the most commonly used arguments against such a State power is the United States Supreme Court (US S CT) dicta opinion in Marbury v. Madison in 1803, written by Chief Justice John Marshall. Before getting into the misunderstandings and misapplications of that infamous decision, we must first recognize the source and character of Marshall’s opinion. As Marshall himself admitted that the US is to be a country of “laws, not men,” we must establish that Marshall’s opinion does not equate to the “supreme law of the land” which the states and individuals are bound to obey. If our submission only requires that the US S CT speak, then we do not live as freemen, but as slaves.

Marshall was an ardent member of the Federalist Party (a pro-centralist party) and served as the Secretary of State in the pro-centralist administration of President John Adams, who appointed Marshall to the US S CT in 1801 at the “midnight” hour before Thomas Jefferson was sworn into office as President of the US. Marshall’s nationalist opinions were no secret either. Marshall believed that the US Constitution and Union were formed by the aggregate whole of the American people, and not by a compact of the states; that the Union formed “one nation, indivisible” and not a confederation of states; that State sovereignty as expressed in the Tenth Amendment equated more to a general idea than to any real applicable and relevant State power over the federal government; that the Constitution must be liberally interpreted for the sake of expanding federal powers at the expense of State sovereignty; and that the idea of State sovereignty was literally ridiculous. By the way, even most self-called conservatives today probably subscribe to these political beliefs, not even knowing the real historical facts behind such fallacious ideology. Read more of this article »

Yesterday afternoon, I watched the shuttle Endeavour blasting off into space. It had been a while since I paid much attention to the space program. Like most Americans, in spite of the few tragic failures, we take for granted the flawless perfection of a NASA operation. After all, they are a bunch of rocket scientists. The whole thing was most impressive… four million pounds lifting off the earth and seconds later traveling at well over 11,000 miles per hour. I was thinking John Force, eat your heart out. Anyone not impressed by both the brute force of six million pounds of thrust and the split-second precision of this take off is just not paying attention.

It got me thinking back to that day in May of 1961 when we filed into the junior high school auditorium to watch Alan Shepard take that first brief wild ride on the top of a rocket into space. Now it does not seem like much, but then, without the experience and technology of 2009 it was quite a feat. No American had ever done this before and it was less than a month since Russian, Yuri Gagarin had become the first man in space.

September 12 of the next year saw President Kennedy tell the people of the world that there would be an American standing on the moon by the end of the decade. July 20, 1969 my wife and I brought our second child home from the hospital and that night saw grainy pictures of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin plant an American flag and leave American footprints on the surface of the moon. Read more of this article »

The vast majority of an educated modern populace has developed a pretty vivid tapestry of what life was like during the “Great Depression”. The visions of struggling dirt farmers like the Joad’s in Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath”, the big city soup lines, the tent cities for thousands of homeless and photographs of men selling apples on street corners have burnished in many of us a searing image of hopelessness and despair.

Today, the United States is sharing the most serious economic malady since the “Great Depression” with countries all over the world. While not approaching the absolute calamity of the 1930′s, the damage done to our wallets and psyches is nevertheless daunting and bruising. Businesses, organizations and individuals are understandably fearful and have curtailed spending in lieu of conserving capital. Risk taking, the key to maximizing gain, has been virtually shut down. Small business growth and development has been strangled. Entrepreneurs have hunkered down, fearful of the vagaries of a marketplace that seems to have no stomach for new products and ideas.

In times like these it pays to study the lessons of history. The Great Depression was bleak for so many, of course. Nevertheless, it was actually a fertile era for creativity and entrepreneurial activity.

People were desperate to make every purchase count, to leverage every dollar spent and obtain maximum value. The result was that an exciting array of creative breakthroughs came to market to satisfy the greater demand for economy. Read more of this article »

Ever needing material to fill a twenty four hour news cycle, the talking heads were all atwitter about the defection of Arlen Specter to the dark side. The story fit their their template, something bad happening to the Republican is always worth reporting. Only, this isn’t anything particularly bad for the party. Sure it appears that the Dems are that much closer to the to a filibuster proof majority, but since when has Senator Specter been a reliable soldier in the battle against expanding government or a staunch defender to a baby’s right to be born?

The recent stimulus fiasco is only one of many where he threw his Republican colleagues under the bus simply because he was out of step with mainstream Republican thinking. His assertions that the party had moved to the far right away from him are some of the most humorous comments he’s made with a straight face. Anyone who has been paying any attention knows the alternate explanation is much more to the point. The Republicans of Pennsylvania are finally getting their act together and demanding someone with principles carry their banner.

This has been in the works for some time as there are various groups looking to run candidates in primaries against Republicans who have been collaborating with the enemy. This battle has been won without the anticipated fight. Will Specter be a viable candidate as a Democrat when he’s been portrayed for years as an evil Republican who wanted to steal childrens’ lunches and prevent the homeless from taking walkin’ around money and voting two, maybe three times? Time will tell.

Is Arlen Specter the first of many to fall under the threat of retribution by the own constituents? One can only hope so. Party organizations tend to support incumbents with little regard for their value in furthering common agendas. President Bush even helped Specter overcome a conservative primary challenge last time around. So it is up to the grassroots activists to find candidates, support them and get them elected. Read more of this article »

In 1927, just days before Andrew Kehoe detonated bombs that killed 45 people in Bath Township, Mich., he left an ominous sign on his fence that read, “Criminals are made, not born.” The problems that plagued Kehoe are familiar to us today: tax increases, overwhelming debt and property foreclosure. Unfortunately, his choice of “expression” is also familiar.

This March, a gunman drove through southern Alabama murdering 10 people before being killed in a shootout with police. In East Oakland, Calif., a man killed four police officers before being similarly gunned down. Later that same month, another man went on a rampage at a North Carolina nursing home where his ex-girlfriend was employed, killing eight. Around the same time, a husband in Santa Clara, Calif., murdered five members of his own family before turning the gun on himself.

April has hardly begun, and already there have been three high-profile incidents. April 3, 15 people, including the gunman, were killed in a mass shooting in Binghamton, N.Y. Not a day after that tragedy, three police officers were killed in a shootout in Pittsburgh, and a father murdered five of his own children in a trailer park in Graham, Wash., before killing himself.

Fifty-four dead in 30 days in just these incidents alone. That’s more than our combined casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan for the same period. These killings cross demographic lines. The perpetrators have been middle class, poor, black, white, immigrant, and from all areas of the country. Read more of this article »

Many of our problems today come, not from any particular event or situation, but from a lack of confidence to move forward. The stock market is basically in a downward spiral because investors don’t believe problems are being fixed… in fact they believe just the opposite. Banks aren’t lending money… maybe because they don’t have confidence in the economy the borrowers will operate in, or perhaps they feel they’ve been burned and lost confidence in their own ability to make good decisions and they’ve become overly cautious.

It appears that we don’t really have an economic problem… but a confidence problem. It’s not that we lack cash… the Fed is printing paper just as fast as the presses will run. We have a president with no lack of confidence in his ability to do everything short of walking on water. As we haven’t discussed the matter, it may be that he believes it possible to be an aquatic pedestrian. At this point thought, his extreme confidence in himself is not shared by Wall St. or Main St. People have begun saving what money they have and stopped buying much that they really don’t need. The economy is slowly grinding to a halt.

One would think that all the people who voted for the O-man would have the confidence to move the economy forward, yet even they… the bankers who received bailout money… and gave some to his campaign… don’t have the confidence to start the credit flowing again. For the bankers, it’s not a cash shortage, they just received billions of our money from the government, but an unwillingness to lend it out. It’s hard blame them too much as they’ve made a couple too many bad choices with their own money… some because of government rules and intimidation. Read more of this article »

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